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STRUCTURE magazine
28
April 2007
Capacity Design
The capacity-design approach to seismic design
requires that the structural engineer:
1) Select a desirable mechanism of non linear lateral deformation for the
structure, which identifies those
structural elements and actions that are
intended to undergo nonlinear
response. The mechanism should not
lead to concentrated nonlinear defor mations such as occurs, for example,
with a story mechanism.
2) Ensure that the detailing of the desig nated nonlinear elements provides
adequate ductility capacity, i.e., allows
the elements to deform well beyond
yield without significant
strength degradation.
3) Design all other elements and actions
of the structure for elastic, or nearly
elastic, response.
For a concrete core-wall building under
earthquake lateral displacement, the desired
mechanism consists of flexural plastic hinging
near the base of the core wall and flexural yielding
of coupling beams, as shown in Figure 2. Some
core-wall buildings have coupling beams only in
one plan direction, with walls in the other plan
direction acting as cantilever walls, as shown
in Figure 2. The cantilever wall is designed to
develop a single plastic hinge at its base. In each
plan direction, the wall flanges, typically including
the entire core-wall section, contribute to global
moment capacity.
The nonlinear elements of the structure
coupling beams and the base plastic hinge are
detailed for ductile response. Other elements and
actions of the structure such as wall shear, wall
moment outside the hinge zone, floor and roof
diaphragms, and foundations are given sufficient
strength that their behavior will be essentially
elastic. Table 1 lists structural elements and actions
for a core-wall building that are typically designed
for nonlinear behavior and those that are designed
for elastic, capacity-protected behavior.
Gravity Framing
Floor Diaphragms
at and Below
Grade Transfer
Forces from Core
Wall to Perimeter
Retaining Walls
Flexural Plastic
Hinge Location,
Detailed for
Ductility
Concrete
Core Wall
with Openings
(Coupled Wall)
Plastic Hinge
Locations at
Coupling Beams
and Base of Wall
Foundation
Below-Grade
Perimeter
Retaining Walls
Figure 2: The typical nonlinear action for a cantilever wall (left) is a flexural plastic hinge at the base of the
wall. For a coupled wall (right) nonlinear actions are flexure-yielding coupling beams and a flexural plastic
hinge at the base of the wall.
Flexure-Governed Design
A critical consideration in the design of the
concrete wall system is to protect against shear
failure in the wall. A wall governed by flexural
yielding will maintain its lateral-force resistance
through large displacements and will deform in a
way that distributes deformation over the height
of the building. A wall shear failure, by contrast,
leads to a degradation of strength and can cause
a concentration of deformation and damage over
a limited height (Figure 3). Flexure-governed
response provides a greater assurance against
collapse in a severe earthquake.
The seismic design process for concrete core-wall
buildings is based on methods that were established
in the New Zealand and Canadian building codes
beginning in the 1970s. A large number of corewall high-rises were built in Vancouver before
the methodology was applied, with Seismic Peer
Review, to high-rise buildings in the Seattle area
and elsewhere in the U.S.
Capacity Design
using Nonlinear
Response-History Analyses
The capacity design approach was principally
developed and promoted by researchers and practicing engineers in New Zealand, at a time when
computer analysis capabilities were limited. Nonlinear response-history (NLRH) analyses were
only feasible on large university computers using
two-dimensional models of simplified structures.
Researchers used such analyses to derive detailed
requirements for capacity design that could be applied to simpler static and linear analysis and design practices.
These detailed capacity-design requirements,
such as dynamic shear amplification factors, are
still useful, particularly for regular structures less
than 20 stories and for the preliminary design
of taller structures. Today, thanks to recent advances and availability in structural analysis soft-
ware, the capacity design approach can be combined with building-specific NLRH analyses to
design high-rise buildings and verify acceptable
seismic performance.
Table 1: Typical nonlinear and capacity-protected elements for a core-wall building with
concrete flat slabs.
Structural elements and actions designed for
nonlinear behavior:
Coupling beams (diagonally reinforced if
deformation demands are high)
Base of wall plastic-hinge zone
Notes
Strength is determined from Code-Level
evaluation. Elements are detailed for
ductile response.
STRUCTURE magazine
29 April 2007
Notes
0.13
San
Salt Lake
Seattle Francisco
City
98104
94102
84111
S1 = 0.56 S1 = 0.66 S1 = 0.78
0.12
0.11
0.10
0.09
0.08
2002 ASCE-7
Eqs. 9.5.5.2.1-3
and 9.5.5.2.1-4
0.07
0.06
0.05
0.04
2005 ASCE-7
Eq. 12.8-5, 12.8-6
0.03
0.02
0.01
0.00
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1.0
1.2
1.3
Figure 4: Minimum base shear equations for recent building codes, as a function of the ground motion
parameter S1.
Properly applied, the NLRH analysis takes
the place of applying the code-prescribed overstrength factor, W0,to actions designed to
remain elastic.
Semi-PerformanceBased Design
The design approach could be considered a
semi-performance-based. The Code Level evaluation aims to have the design meet all prescriptive
code requirements with which it is logical that the
design comply, without evaluating seismic performance. The MCE Level evaluation explicitly
considers the performance of the structure at a
level for which the structure should not collapse.
This evaluation uses state-of-the-art methods of
analysis, and structural force and deformation
capacities based on expected rather than nominal
values. Story drift limitations can be checked at
the Code Level, and also at the MCE Level; for
For concrete buildings, these are typically structural walls and moment frames. Gravity framing
is usually not included in the lateral analysis for
earthquake resistance, but is instead evaluated for
its ability to sustain the imposed seismic deformations. In reality, gravity framing systems contribute
to some degree to lateral-force resistance, and this
contribution should be considered in the design of
high-rise buildings, particularly at the MCE-level
evaluation.
For core-wall buildings with concrete flat-slab
floors, the gravity structural system consists of
the floor slabs and supporting columns. Lateral
displacement of the core wall and columns of the
building induces moments and shears in the floor
slabs, which act as unintentional outriggers that
increase the buildings lateral resistance. Often,
the lateral displacement under MCE-level ground
motions is enough to cause flexural yielding in the
slabs. Yielding of the floor slabs is typically acceptable, while other failure modes such as punching
shear from the induced deform-ations must be
prevented (Table 1, see page 29).
Two other aspects of this slab-outrigger effect
are important for engineers to evaluate. The first
is that shear in the core wall is increased, and the
second is that earthquake axial forces are generated
in the gravity columns. These demands should
be included in the shear design of the core wall and
in the design of the columns.
Defining Equivalent
Seismic Performance
The IBCs equivalence criterion requires that
the buildings seismic performance be at least
the equivalent of that prescribed in this code.
In assessing seismic performance, the Engineer
of Record and Peer Reviewer should consider
both the intentions of the building code, and the
performance that results from a code-prescriptive
design with good seismic performance.
Table 2: Differences between Seismic Peer Review and Structural Plan Check
Seismic Peer Review
Done by an engineering firm or a panel of engineers, independent of Done by a jurisdictions building authority or by a third-party
the Engineer of Record, with expertise in seismic design
consultant to the jurisdiction.
Ideally starts at schematic design
30
April 2007
REFERENCES
ICC, 2006, International Building Code 2006, International Code Council, Falls Church Virginia.
ASCE, 2005, Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures (ASCE/SEI 7-05), Prepared
by the Structural Engineering Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, Virgina.
FIB, 2003, Seismic Design of Precast Concrete Building Structures, State of the Art Report prepared
by Task Group 7.3, International Federation for Structural Concrete (FIB), Lausanne, Switzerland,
October.
Paulay, T. and M. J. N. Priestley, 1992, Seismic Design of Reinforced Concrete and Masonry Buildings,
John Wiley and Sons, New York.
SEAOC, 1999, Recommended Lateral Force Requirements and Commentary, Seismology Committee,
Structural Engineers Association of California, Sacramento California.
SEAOC, 1999, Project Design Peer Review (Chapter 4, October 1995) Recommended Guidelines
for the practice of Structural Engineering in California, Structural Engineers Association of California,
Sacramento, California.
STRUCTURE magazine
31 April 2007